Written Answers Wednesday 1 November 2006

Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Ms Maureen Watt (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average farm income has been in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Ross Finnie: Average farm income information is not available by local authority area.

  The following table shows average Net Farm Income estimates for Scotland for accounting periods 1999-2000 to 2004-05:

  

 Period
Average Net Farm Income
£ Per Farm


 1999-2000
£2,880


 2000-01
£6,080


 2001-02
£10,520


 2002-03
£10,400


 2003-04
£19,870


 2004-05
£13,220



  Source: Farm Accounts Survey.

  Notes:

  1. Net Farm Income (NFI) represents the return to the farmer and spouse for their manual and managerial labour and has been calculated on a tenant-type farming basis. As the majority of farms in Scotland are owner-occupied, NFI estimates ought to be treated with some caution as they do not represent all the income of owner-occupied farms.

  2. NFI results, which are generated from the Farm Accounts Survey, are representative of eight main farm types in Scotland. They do not include incomes from farm types such as pigs, poultry or horticulture.

  3. NFI results are only representative of farms in Scotland above an economic size threshold of 0.5 standard labour requirements.

  4. Methodological improvements were introduced to NFI estimates in 2002-03, so there may be a slight break in the NFI series in this period.

  There are two main sources of information on farm incomes :

  The Farm Accounts Survey provides results on average farm incomes at the national level, however the sample size of 460 farms is insufficient to provide reliable or representative results at the local authority level.

  The Total Income From Farming (TIFF) measure is compiled at a national level using a range of national data sources, as such TIFF estimates are not produced at a local authority level.

Dentistry

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many pupils were seen by the school dental service in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) NHS board, (b) local authority and (c) parliamentary constituency.

Lewis Macdonald: The School Dental Service no longer exists.

  A limited range of functions of the former School Dental Service was transferred to the Community Dental Service in the 1970s and increasingly in recent years, the Salaried General Dental Service has taken on the dental care of patients previously treated by both the School and Community Dental Service.

Fisheries

Richard Lochhead (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made on the establishment of the inshore fisheries management framework.

Ross Finnie: Two Inshore Fisheries Groups (IFGs)- the Hebrides Inshore Fisheries Group and the South East Scotland Inshore Fisheries Group - are presently active on a shadow basis. The second meeting of the shadow Executive Committee of the Hebridean Group will be held on 3 November. Discussions have begun in a number of other localities to prepare the way for establishing the next tranche of groups.

  Progress on establishing IFGs has not been as rapid as we would have hoped. A key factor has been difficulties with the appointment of IFG co-ordinators. But we are addressing the outstanding difficulties as a matter of urgency. We hope to be able to report progress to the next meeting of the Scottish Inshore Fisheries Advisory Group later in the autumn.

Health

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding is available in the 2006-07 budget for the Prevention 2010 project.

Lewis Macdonald: There is £6.5 million available for the Prevention 2010 project in 2006-07. The programme, now branded as Keep well,  was launched publicly on 24 October.

Health

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the funding available in the 2006-07 budget for the Prevention 2010 project has been allocated.

Lewis Macdonald: £5.8 million has been allocated to date.

Justice

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what lessons were learned by NHS Ayrshire and Arran and Ailsa Hospital from the first occasion on which Mark Biggley absconded from the hospital in May 2006.

Lewis Macdonald: Following the patient’s absconcion in May 2006 from Ailsa Hospital, an investigation into the circumstances were undertaken. As a consequence a number of recommendations were made covering areas such as: the ward function, environment, and policies and procedures. The recommendations are being implemented and monitored through a supporting action plan.

  Separately, we have appointed an inquiry panel to look at the robustness of the risk management plan, the lessons learnt from the CIR following the abscond in May, the decisions and events that led to the abscond and report to the Executive.

Justice

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the risk management plan in relation to the care of Mark Biggley, a restricted patient at Ailsa Hospital, and indicate (a) who should have been involved in meetings to agree the plan and (b) whether the plan was followed by the responsible medical officer.

Lewis Macdonald: Patient confidentiality precludes the disclosure of the risk management plan which contains clinical information.

  A risk management plan is normally prepared by the multi-disciplinary team which may include a Responsible Medical Officer, psychologist, social worker, nursing, and occupational therapist. The Scottish Executive, housing officials and the police may be invited to contribute to the risk assessment process if appropriate

  The Critical Incident Review being carried out by NHS Ayrshire and Arran will consider whether the plan was followed. Separately, we have appointed an inquiry panel to look at the robustness of the risk management plan, the lessons learned from the CIR following the abscond in May, and the decisions and events that led to the abscond and report to the Executive.

Justice

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Strathclyde Police was informed and consulted in determining the risk involved prior to the transfer to Ailsa Hospital of restricted patient, Mark Biggley, and prior to granting him unsupervised leave within the grounds of the hospital.

Lewis Macdonald: No.

NHS Hospitals

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS hospitals have rented (a) all and (b) part of their wards to pharmaceutical companies for experimental treatments in the last 12 months.

Lewis Macdonald: The information requested is not held centrally.

Smoking

Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in order to inform its policy on smoking, it holds information on the amount of nicotine contained in each of the 10 leading brands of cigarettes and, if so, what that amount is and whether the amount in any of those brands has increased in the last five years.

Lewis Macdonald: The Executive does not collect information on the amount of nicotine contained in cigarettes. Responsibility for collecting and testing tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide yields in cigarettes under Article 5 of the Tobacco Products (Manufacture, Presentation and Sale) (Safety) Regulations 2002, falls to the UK Department of Health.